Whether you graced the school hallways or rebelled against them, odds are those rebelliously stylish school year-ready shoes of yours didn't land you an unscheduled trip back home. Yet, in the curious case of Grace College in Gateshead, UK, this year, a peculiar paradigm shift occurred: one that made countless students reconsider their footwear.
One of those students was Layla Pope, an 11-year-old who was welcomed back, not with hugs and kisses but with a one-day suspension on her first day of term. The reason? Vivienne Westwood slip-on shoes that the school deemed "incorrect" due to "health and safety" reasons.
Recently, a school in the UK sparked controversy after turning away multiple students on their first day of term for wearing "incorrect" shoes
Image credits: chroniclelive
However, Layla's 37-year-old mom, Melissa, concerned as any mom worth her salt would be, unapologetically labeled the school's reaction as "disgusting" and "ridiculous", firmly asserting the fact that her daughter's future attendance was not on the horizon.
"My daughter has had her first day at secondary school. She’s been sitting in a room not learning anything at all and not wanting to go back," Melissa explained to ChronicleLive.
She continued: "They’ve said she can’t wear them for health and safety because the shoe doesn’t cover the top of the foot. I asked if I could get her a loafer and they said that still wasn’t acceptable, it had to be a brogue type of shoe."
Layla Pope, an 11-year-old, was one of the students at Gateshead's Grace College who was sent home for wearing Vivienne Westwood shoes that day
Image credits: chroniclelive
Image source: Ron Lach (not the actual photo)
Besides calling Grace College "an Army camp," Melissa explained that this was the first time her daughter's shoes were deemed problematic and she would rather find a respectable institution that wouldn't pick on students for absurd reasons.
A Grace College spokesperson had this to say about the matter: "Grace College is proud of its uniform for the professional image it portrays, and we expect students to wear it with pride."
"Our uniform policy is designed to be fair, equal and affordable to all students, which is especially important during a cost of living crisis," Grace College told Chronicle Live.
The school explained that its goal is to create an atmosphere where everything is "fair and equal"
Image source: Kampus Production (not the actual photo)
However, Layla was far from the only teen to suffer bizarre consequences for wearing Vivienne Westwood shoes. Another instance emerged when the father of a 9th-grade student, similarly sent packing for donning Nike walking boots, voiced his confusion and frustration regarding the situation.
“The North East has the lowest GCSE results in the country and we've got a secondary school sending students home for a pair of shoes," the boy's father said, adding that "a large proportion" of girls were sent home that day.
"I’m quite angry that they are clearly focusing on matters that are less concerning than others that have been raised to them. There’s more important things that should be addressed rather than shoes."
Most folks online thought that these parents are making it a bigger deal than it really is
However, some parents had a slightly different opinion
